Transcendental Etude no. 10

Although I find much of Liszt's music over the top and quite repulsive, he does have movements of musical genius. In this etude at the second appearance of his melodic octave section accentato ed appassionato, Liszt has a simply beautiful four bar fragmentation followed by another four bar fragmentation. The melody itself is quite plain: C C C C B B C D E C A and then: C C C C B C Db Eb F Db Ab. The corresponding harmonies are am, B7, G#dim7, am, adim7, Cdim7 (same thing), and resolves to DbM. The possibilities of color change in this passage are incredible. Liszt does not stop here. Like Wagner, the melody never seems to end; we are always presented with new unexpected harmonies. And as you can see, his use of diminished chords allows him to easily shift from one tonal center to the next. The melodic and rhythmic motives make the extended period coherent ( quarter followed by dotted eighth sixteenth note). Like many of Liszt's other works (especially the Dante Fantasy), the use of chromaticism dominates his melodic lines. Even from the beginning, Liszt begins exploring these two-note chromatic slurs (mm. 3 and 6 B to c and Db to C). At m. 7 he elaborates these fragments with an added C Ab F and the end. It's as if we are peering into Liszt's compositional process. It's interesting to note the textural contrasts he sets up and uses throughout the piece. The opening interlocking hand figurations has a diatonic function. There is no real melodic significance to it, it is merely a textural effect. The two-note slur idea mixed with the 2/4 time signature remind me of a barcarole. Unlike Chopin and his etudes, Liszt does not use the same techniques throughout the study. He does often; however, create the illusion of continuous techniques. For example, on the second page of the etude, he writes out a RH sixteenth note triplet part: F G F F G F F G F (in higher and higher octaves). The music is supposed to be a simplified version of the interlocking hand figuration, which appears in the measure before and after it. The illusion figuration not only allows for a break, but also for the extra lH part. The natural assumption of associating the previous measure with the simplified measure increases the illusion of super-virtuosity. It is not until the third page that Liszt actually presents a lasting stable melody. This sense of dramatic opening larger stems from the tradition of Beethoven. Likewise the sense of organic growth and unity of motive comes from the man. What separates Liszt from Beethoven here, is that Liszt is constantly using those motives and shaping them and sequencing them in bizarre keys. For example Fm to Abm in this stable section. Unlike other pieces by Chopin, including his rhapsodies and concert etudes, this work has a clear binary type of form: introduction, Fragmentation section of half-steps, stable theme built from these half-steps, return of end of fragmentation section, exciting pure half-steps in both hands, return of fragmentation section of half-steps, stable theme built from these half-steps, return of end of fragmentation section, extended exciting suggest based purely on the organic fragments. This is basically (intro)ABCA'D ABCA'D' --a two part form. There is one interesting chord progression i wish to observe right before the Stretta section. This patterns turns out to be a series of fully diminished chords strengthened by contrary motion (as the hands reach the extremes of the piano. The chromatic descent in the list line of piece is also very exciting.